Cazenovia Hillbender

The Cazenovia Hillbender was an open race southeast of Syracuse. Seeing that Caz is my wife's hometown and the race was a good excuse to visit family, it was a no-brainer. It started bright and early with a heavy fog and temps around 50 degrees. The group was happy to warm up with a slow roll out. After 5 miles a rider from one of the larger teams took off on a down hill. I followed his wheel and accelerated when the road turned uphill. I quickly had a large gap and figured I'd work it to see if any others jumped across. The gap kept growing and I settled into a steady rhythm. I soloed over the firsts sprint line and then the hill turned upward - turns out it's called the Hillbender for a reason. A small group bridged up to me and the race was on. By the top, it was just me and one other - from the same large team as my initial break partner. We worked well together - he was a flyweight and led on the climbs while I took the flats and downhills. The finish was a slow gradient for 2-3 miles and then a steep 1/2 mile hill. I was pretty sapped by the last hill and couldn't quite hold on after my earlier efforts and ended up with a second place - with a 2 minute gap back to third. Turns out the winner is a cat 3 who has won some pretty prestigious races so that eased my pain a little. Now it's time to start winding down and looking towards the offseason. After all, it's almost time to start building for 2013!

Sponsor news - Grace Road East

Grace Road is a young church that meets in the German House in the South Wedge, right around the corner from Full Moon Vista. In it's first three years, Grace Road has grown from a handful of people to nearly 500. In an effort to continue growing, GR is launching a new service in Pittsford on Sunday evenings at 6pm. They will be meeting at The Mosaic building on West Bloomfield Rd (next to Walnut Hill farm). The new service launches September 30th, check 'em out!